One bad apple
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission is considering yet another delay in the approval of 15 pending charter school applications. The latest delay is driven by the district's budget deficit, the arrival of a new chief executive, and the explosion of charter schools in the city.
Blue days for the GOP
The most significant election in the past week wasn't Hillary Clinton's victory in the West Virginia primary, but a Democratic win of a congressional seat in Mississippi.
- Shortchanging childrenWouldn't it be ironic if Gov. Rendell succeeds in expanding health coverage for working poor adults only to look back and discover that thousands of Pennsylvania children have lost their government-subsidized insurance?
- A healthy startFormer U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona is right to exhort us to reduce costs and improve life by preventing and better managing chronic diseases (Commentary, May 12). Skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes alone drain our resources and sap our health.
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I guess President Bush must think Defense Secretary Bob Gates is an appeaser of terrorists. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, too. And U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker, as well.
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A year ago, Mayor John Street took heat for skipping out of the office to wait in line for an iPhone on the day the gadget debuted. I was one of the people who piled on.
- As chaos engulfs the African nation, many of its wealthiest and best-educated people are leaving - for places such as Minnesota. If they stayed, would their homeland be better off?At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week, I was emerging from a concourse when three electric carts driven by Somali airport workers whizzed past, startling me.
- John Timpane is the associate editor of the Inquirer Editorial Board and editor of Currents Call it a change of plan.
- Indicates wheelchair-accessible. Indicates listening devices. Events are free unless otherwise indicated. Symposiums & seminars A New Generation of Jewish Political Leadership. Mike Gerber (D), Josh Shapiro (D) of Pa House of Reps, Montgomery Cty. Jewish Social Policy Action Network. Justice Roberts Rm, 123 Broad St; 215-635-2554. $10. 7:30 p.m. Mon.
- Richard Hodges is the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Why is archaeology a good thing for people to know about? Archaeology brings the spirit of the past and places together, and reveals the thrilling rhythms of history in a material form that is common to all our lives.
- Below are more excerpts from the satirical Web site The Philadelphia Turkey (http//:www.phillyturkey. com). Note: These are works of satire; all quotations are fictitious.
- Natural accidents . . . quakes . . . hurricanes . . . floods . . . tsunamis . . . here's a quiz on them. Thanks to the staff of the Free Library's Parkway Central for helping us ensure accuracy.
- Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago What is wrong with polygamy?
- Noel Weyrich is a Philadelphia writer During his inaugural speech in January, Mayor Nutter made a grand promise to double the city's number of college graduates over the next five to 10 years, pointing out that with just 18 percent of the adult population holding bachelor's degrees, Philadelp
- Like the former Philadelphia mayor, the senator has been unable to offset a lack of black support with a coalition of working-class white voters.An old South Philly friend recently told me what Frank Rizzo and Hillary Clinton have in common. He had a serious point: Each was unable to build a large enough coalition of white, working-class voters to offset an opponent's monolithic minority vote.
- 1. About the same. The Sichuan earthquake has been estimated at a magnitude of 7.9. The Richter scale or other measurements did not exist in 1906, but the estimated magnitude of the San Francisco temblor is now thought to have been between 7.7 and 7.9.
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